"By using this website, you consent to the cookies we use and our Privacy Policy."

[Silent3]

I'm pretty damn sure that with Trump in the Oval Office, Moscow Mitch not being interested in anything much more than confirming right-wing judges, and the FCC being run by Ajit Pai, it's awfully damned unlikely that any new regulations have been passed and imposed on internet content providers.

So why in hell are more and more and more web sites bugging me with banners and pop-ups asking me if I accept the cookies that they could easily store on my browser anyway, even without bothering to ask me?

It seems unlikely that they're suddenly bending over backwards out of pure good will, worried about all of our privacy concerns.

[dewsgirl]

1. I've noticed this as well.

[Shermann]

2. We live in the era of copy and paste

A lot of this sort of thing seems to be boilerplate that gets lifted from a variety of sources. Why pay lawyers to craft a genuinely useful consent form when you can just copy what everybody else is doing.

[NurseJackie]

3. EU rules and regs?

[judeling]

4. Some of that for sure.

There is also a shift going on as companies are trying to separate from FB.

[Silent3]

5. Now that makes sense. n/t

[Ms. Toad]

6. Generally you have the option to reject a lot of cookies

Follow the links and reject all but those necessary to operate.

A lot of this is driven by the EU, which has much better privacy protections than the US - and any site targeting an EU audience (and it may well be broader than that) had to comply with EU guidelines.

This is a good thing.

[Earthshine2]

7. Perhaps it's in the so-called privacy policy.

That privacy policy to which you consent might contain language giving them permission to use the cookies to track you across the web, not just on the one website.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

8. Why every website wants you to accept its cookies

https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/12/10/18656519/what-are-cookies-website-tracking-gdpr-privacy

Why every website wants you to accept its cookies

The proliferation of such alerts was largely triggered by two different regulations in Europe: the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a sweeping data privacy law enacted in the European Union in May 2018; and the ePrivacy Directive, which was first passed in 2002 and then updated in 2009. They, and the cookie alerts that resulted, have plenty of good intentions. But they’re ineffectual.

“I would say they’re generally pretty useless so far,” Shane Green, CEO of private data sharing platform digi.me, told Recode. “We’re back to 1999 all over again with pop-ups everywhere, and it’s beyond annoying.”

Why this, why now, briefly explained
To back up a little bit, cookies are pieces of information saved about you when you’re online, and they track you as you browse. So say you go to a weather website and put in your zip code to look up what’s happening in your area; the next time you visit the same site, it will remember your zip code because of cookies. There are first-party cookies that are placed by the site you visit, and then there are third-party cookies, such as those placed by advertisers to see what you’re interested in and in turn serve you ads — even when you leave the original site you visited. (This is how ads follow you around the internet.)

The rise of alerts about cookies is the result of a confluence of events, mainly out of the EU. But in the bigger picture, these alerts underscore an ongoing debate over digital privacy, including whether asking users to opt in or opt out of data collection is better, and the question of who should own data and be responsible for protecting it.

[Silent3]

9. The EU explanation I heard earlier helped me understand. I already knew why...

...everyone wants you to accept their cookies. What I couldn't understand is why, since web sites can store cookies even without asking, they'd bother to ask for permission or warn about it happening. The problem was I wasn't thinking beyond the US when I first wondered about this.

I knew a new law could trigger these new permissions and warnings, but when thinking US-only, I didn't think it at all likely anything had changed on our legal landscape in this regard. And it probably hasn't changed here. But I guess it's just a lot easier to do the same thing everywhere in the world at the same time, and also be ready for a possible changes in US laws after we (hopefully!) toss out Trump and gain control of the Senate.

[brooklynite]

10. I have an answer that won't live up to your conspiracy theory...

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Regulation (EU) 2016/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data. This text includes the corrigendum published in the OJEU of 23 May 2018.

The regulation is an essential step to strengthen individuals' fundamental rights in the digital age and facilitate business by clarifying rules for companies and public bodies in the digital single market. A single law will also do away with the current fragmentation in different national systems and unnecessary administrative burdens.

The regulation entered into force on 24 May 2016 and applies since 25 May 2018. More information for companies and individuals.

Information about the incorporation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) into the EEA Agreement.

Its an EU policy which is being applied by websites in the US for simplicity sake.

[Silent3]

11. What conspiracy theory is your answer not living up to...

...since I didn't voice one?

I just thought the phenomenon was weird, as an accident of not thinking beyond US law. No conspiracy was proposed.

[brooklynite]

12. "It seems unlikely that they're suddenly bending over backwards out of pure good will"

[Silent3]

13. That's hardly a conspiracy, it is in fact what turned out to be the truth...

...that the EU is making web content providers add these prompts and permissions, and it's not being done out of pure good will of content providers.

It's not like I suggested they must be doing this as a way to sap and impurify our precious bodily fluids, obtain babies to eat, or serve the Reptilian Overlords.

[brooklynite]

14. You didn't ask a simple question like "why do I have to consent to cookies..."

Why did you post what you did, the way you did it?

[Silent3]

15. Simply because I was annoyed by all the prompts (even if they're supposed to benefit me)...

...and it just seemed weird that it was happening all at once on so many websites.

There's a big difference between thinking something is peculiar and (to one's self at least, if not others) difficult to explain, and jumping to a conspiracy, which I did not do.

Perhaps you're accustomed to anyone who thinks anything is mysterious automatically performing that last step, but I did not do that.